Dr Riaz Ahmed, assistant professor in the Applied Chemistry Department at Karachi University and elected representative on the university council, was picked up by security forces on Saturday April 1st, 2017 outside Karachi Press Club together with Professor Meher Afroz Murad, who has now been released. He was about to address a scheduled press conference calling for the release from prison of a former colleague, the retired Karachi University professor Dr Zafar Hassan Arif, detained since October 2016.
Media reports reveal that he was arrested by the paramilitary Sindh Rangers. He has now been charged with the possession of an unlicensed 9mm pistol, handed over to the police and sent to Karachi Central Prison. His lawyer will make an application for bail tomorrow, on Monday.
A human rights activist and renowned Marxist intellectual, Dr Riaz has been a strong, nonviolent voice calling for freedom of expression, for example calling for the release of missing persons such as the Baloch intellectual, Wahid Baloch, held for five months, July-December 2016.
We call on international human rights organizations, the UN, the Government of Pakistan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Federal Interior Minister of Pakistan and other concerned organizations and people to take notice of the illegal detention of Dr Riaz Ahmed and to help ensure his immediate release.
Pls send signatures to: freedrriaz@gmail.com #ReleaseDrRiaz
More here.